The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Czech investigators made
mistakes in the case of a Roma man who apparently committed suicide while
in custody. The court awarded roughly half a million crowns to the man’s
family in compensation for damages, on the grounds that his death was never
thoroughly and independently investigated. The 2002 case involved a
23-year-old Roma man suspected of having stolen a videotape recorder. After
several hours in detention he leapt from an eight-metre high window while
being escorted. Lawyers from the League of Human Rights argued that the
investigation had been carried out by the same police officers who had the
man in custody and failed to describe what had gone on during the six hours
he was detained. The European court found that he police had erred in not
using handcuffs and leading the man past a window without bars.